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Panda & Sons

Edinburgh

Panda & Sons manages to be many things at once. From the street it’s a barber shop owned by a family of pandas through which you descend to a cocktail bar with vintage stylings, a bouncy vibe and a wide-armed welcome. Inside it has the tweed and wood trappings of a traditional pub where you can drink pints of lager or, alternatively, some of the most creative cocktails the world of mixed drinks has ever seen. It won’t matter to the friendly bartenders in panda aprons what you choose – this is some of the warmest, most unassuming hospitality around.

But back to those cocktails and the bar's latest menu Transcend, which explains why and how the team here – led by owner Iain McPherson, general manager Nicky Craig and assistant manager Sean Moggach – create flavour through freezing. Alongside honing freeze distillation and freeze-drying, McPherson’s own techniques, switching and sous-pression, have taken the bar industry by storm.

The proof is in the rum that’s had its water removed and replaced with roasted coconut milk – and the resultant Coconut Daiquiri is delicious. Or head to the Frozen Delights section, where the alcoholic sorbets and ice creams live. This is the specialism within the specialism – McPherson has studied ice cream-making at two universities and founded his own brand of boozy gelato Señor Scoop.

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